Word Study
centrifugal
CIDE DICTIONARY
centrifugal, a. [L. centrum center + fugere to flee.].
- Tending, or causing, to recede from the center. [1913 Webster]
- Expanding first at the summit, and later at the base, as a flower cluster. [1913 Webster]" When a body moves in a circle with uniform velocity, a force must act on the body to keep it in the circle without change of velocity. The direction of this force is towards the center of the circle. If this force is applied by means of a string to the body, the string will be in a state of tension. To a person holding the other end of the string, this tension will appear to be directed toward the body as if the body had a tendency to move away from the center of the circle which it is describing. Hence this latter force is often called centrifugal force. The force which really acts on the body being directed towards the center of the circle is called centripetal force, and in some popular treatises the centripetal and centrifugal forces are described as opposing and balancing each other. But they are merely the different aspects of the same stress." Clerk Maxwell. [1913 Webster]
centrifugal, n.
A centrifugal machine. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
centrifugal, adj. moving or tending to move from a centre (cf. CENTRIPETAL).
Idiom
centrifugal force an apparent force that acts outwards on a body moving about a centre.
Derivative
centrifugally adv.
Etymology
mod.L centrifugus f. L centrum centre + fugere flee
ROGET THESAURUS
centrifugal
Attraction
N attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, drawing to, pulling towards, adduction, electrical attraction, electricity, static electricity, static, static cling, magnetism, magnetic attraction, gravity, attraction of gravitation, lodestone, loadstone, lodestar, loadstar, magnet, permanent magnet, siderite, magnetite, electromagnet, magnetic coil, voice coil, magnetic dipole, motor coil, rotor, stator, electrical charge, positive charge, negative charge, magnetic pole, north pole, south pole, magnetic monopole, attracting, attrahent, attractive, adducent, adductive, centrifugal, ubi mel ibi apes.Divergence
N divergence, divergency, divarication, ramification, forking, radiation, separation, dispersion, deviation, aberration, diverging, divergent, radiant, centrifugal, aberrant.For further exploring for "centrifugal" in Webster Dictionary Online